


She Completes Me

by LLReid



Category: Reigning Passions (Visual Novel)
Genre: Canon LGBTQ Character, Care of Magical Creatures, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fantasy, Fluff and Mush, LGBTQ Female Character, Romantic Fluff, Royalty, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wordless ways to say I love you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 06:14:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26847235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LLReid/pseuds/LLReid
Summary: Inspired by; Nothing Really Matters by Mr. Probz.~~~~~“Anything I can help with?”Lyrei shook her head and smiled. “You’re already feeding me dinner. I think that’s more than enough.”“I do have one more set of hands than you do,” she laughed, wiggling all of her fingers theatrically. “I’m perfectly capable of multitasking.”The queen struggled not to laugh too much as she swallowed the vegetables in her mouth. “Alright then, if you insist, you can forge my signature and add my comments to the margins of each page once I’ve finished reading and approving the documents. Iris is sleeping in my dominant arm and I don’t have the heart to move him so I can write things legibly.”“How bold of you to assume a perfectly law abiding citizen such as myself would know how to forge your signature, your majesty,” she teased.“How bold of you to assume I’m unaware that you’ve done it three times this past week,” Lyrei smirked.
Relationships: Xenia & Main Character (Reigning Passions), Xenia of the Autumn/Lyrei Ararieth
Comments: 6
Kudos: 59





	She Completes Me

When Xenia had first hatched her plan to find the true heir to the throne, she couldn’t possibly have imagined all that would unfold. She had planned for everything but Lyrei Ararieth becoming so important to her — and her becoming so personally invested in seeing the girl take her rightful place on the throne, then supporting her as she ruled. She had pledged herself to the queen until the end of her days, to use her eyes to see all that happened, her tongue to woo others to her side, her ears to hear every secret, her hands to crush enemies of the crown. And she would do everything in her power to destroy all who stood in their way, for true rulers were not born. They were made.

“I have been looking for you all over the place!,” the spy mistress lamented as a means of announcing her presence as she waltzed into the queen’s private study with a plate of warm food, another plate with an apple tart dusted with cinnamon and brown sugar, and a glass of wine in her hands. Allowing Ruelle to borrow her magical map had been a mistake, as she’d had to search almost every room in the palace in search of her wandering majesty. She entered the cavernous room with a sweep of dark fabric, bringing with her the scent of Autumn, night, and flowers. “I—“

She stopped talking and froze a few feet away from Lyrei the moment she actually took in the sight of her. The uncommonly kind young woman was sat cross legged on the floor in front of a roaring fire reading confidential papers, which was hardly an unusual sight. However, the fact that she was also swarmed by fuzzy little creatures who all adored her brought a smile to Xenia’s face. Iris had become the girl’s shadow since she’d nursed him back to health, he was cradled in the crook of her right arm like an infant, his snuffly snores filling the air and his paws all dangling at odd angles. Leoa was in full lioness form, she was technically supposed to be on guarding duty but was laying with her head on the queen’s lap as Lyrei scratched behind her ears. Then there were the spiders who’d formed attachments to her, at first glance Xenia counted twelve of all different species all resting peacefully on her limbs or gleefully climbing her hair.

She was one of the most stunning people she’d ever beheld. It wasn’t just her bronze-red hair or the colour of her eyes, a blue-green Xenia had never seen before. Right now it was the queen’s ceremonial suit of royal armour she’d worn to publicly inspect her troops and take part in a military parade through Altadellys that day that initially caught her interest: it was ornate to the point of probably being utterly useless in battle and not something she’d ever be expected to wear should Lysende actually need defending, but still a fine work of art Hazel had worked tirelessly to create with the aid of Princess Piama’s fashion expertise and Captain Amara’s vast knowledge of historical suits of royal armour. The right shoulder was fashioned into a flock of bejewelled hummingbirds that wound around her torso, the golden metal and panels of red velvet glistening in the firelight, and her helmet, rested on the floor beside her, featured a hummingbird embossed with rubies over the noseguard. Another hummingbird had been molded into the pommel of her broadsword, matching her short sword and her daggers. On anyone else, the armour might have looked too flamboyant and ridiculous to be taken seriously, but on Lyrei… There was a strange sort of carelessness to her that made this ceremonial uniform seem like something she had just casually thrown on and strutted around the palace in for the good of her health.

“I see you’re already with company,” she snorted, forever amazed at her sweet girl’s capacity for warmth and compassion. There weren’t many in Altadellys who’d take kindly to so many animals forming such attachments to them, who’d treat them the very same way they treated the people they interacted with on a daily basis. Xenia had always found that the way a person treated animals told you a lot about them, as did the way animals reacted to their presence — they were incredible judges of character. More so than people.

It made her unspeakably happy to know that her spiders seemed to like her so much. Poor Valerian had been bitten a number of times before some of her elder babies had trusted him enough to feel relaxed in his presence. But they trusted Lyrei — they wouldn’t have let her near the youngest members of their family or taken kindly to her sharing Xenia’s bed or sought her out of their own volition otherwise.

Lyrei let out a soft laugh and glanced up at her, her aquamarine eyes blazing. “They make this sort of work much more enjoyable.”

“How long have they been like that?”

“A few hours,” Lyrei shrugged. “At first I thought you were sending for me, then I realised Desma and the likes just wanted attention. I think they must like the way the metal and velvet decals feel on their legs. Leoa and Iris seem fascinated with it, too.”

She didn’t even bother to hide her smile as she sat down on the floor beside her, as quietly as she possibly could to avoid waking the sleeping creatures. Lyrei had never looked more beautiful than she did just then, adorned and honest, vulnerable yet utterly invincible. She was greater than most of the nobles who graced her court would ever be. Not because of rank. It was not a woman’s rank that made her memorable. It was how she treated others. Most of the nobility would never be remembered.

“I see,” she chuckled. “Well you missed dinner. I feared something might’ve been amiss and found myself rather concerned for your well-being. You never usually skip your favourite foods unless something is the matter. Are you well, sweet girl?”

Lyrei’s expression softened. “I’m alright. There’s just so much work to be done and so little time to do it. Stopping to eat at a time like this really is not an option.”

Xenia nodded and pierced a carrot with the fork she’d brought along, then held it in front of Lyrei’s mouth. She knew immediately the queen would try to protest that she didn’t need to be fed, but seeing that her hands were full and she was currently multitasking on a hundred different things, Xenia settled her face into an expression that left no room for arguments. She was the only one who could order the queen to do anything — she was stubborn enough that she put up a fight most of the time, mind you — so she made sure she was always perfectly frank when it came to matters concerning her wellbeing. There weren’t many people who got to see Lyrei the person, as opposed to Lyrei the queen. There weren’t many people granted the privilege of loving and serving both.

“You really don’t have to—“

“I want to, Lyzzie” she interjected, the sweet nickname that only she used rolling off of her tongue. “You must eat, lest you wither away to nothing.”

Lyrei’s eyes scanned her face and whatever she saw there silenced any argument before it had left her lips. Whenever anyone else used that word in conversation with her, she’d usually silence them with a glare and an almost bored wave of her hand followed by the statement ‘there is no must about it’. She had so far come to learn that the queen simply did not take kindly to being told what to do outside of very specific situations, stubborn girl that she was.

Life in Altadellys for the queen and those closest to her was never black and white. Treachery and opportunism and backstabbing ran in the veins of blue bloods like their very own lifeblood, and if someone had never had to live their life constantly looking over their shoulder, then they’d have no idea how dangerous it could be. Perhaps that was why she, herself, worked so hard to keep Lyrei safe and well at all times... even when the stubborn girl didn’t think she needed it.

Instead of replying verbally, the queen leaned forwards and took the carrot off of the fork with her teeth. Xenia took that as a personal victory.

“I won’t be too much longer,” Lyrei said, her eyes going back to the papers she was required to read as Xenia went about cutting her dinner into bite sized pieces. There wasn’t another person alive she cared about enough to do this for, but where Lyrei was concerned everything was different. The thought of her going hungry in the name of politics was completely unacceptable.

“What is it you’re working on?”

“A foreign lord by the name of Wolfson and his retainers will soon be making a state visit to Altadellys to negotiate trade and a possible military alliance as ambassadors of the dwarven King Barzilai. There’s much to be done beforehand.” She leaned in and took another bite of food. “It’s not like when Princess Iraia visited on behalf of the Elves. There are many more people to consider this time around, bigger issues that need to be discussed at length. I want to make sure I’m prepared.”

“Anything I can help with?”

Lyrei shook her head and smiled. “You’re already feeding me dinner. I think that’s more than enough.”

“I do have one more set of hands than you do,” she laughed, wiggling all of her fingers theatrically. “I’m perfectly capable of multitasking.”

The queen struggled not to laugh too much as she swallowed the vegetables in her mouth. “Alright then, if you insist, you can forge my signature and add my comments to the margins of each page once I’ve finished reading and approving the documents. Iris is sleeping in my dominant arm and I don’t have the heart to move him so I can write things legibly.”

“How bold of you to assume a perfectly law abiding citizen such as myself would know how to forge your signature, your majesty,” she teased.

“How bold of you to assume I’m unaware that you’ve done it three times this past week,” Lyrei smirked.

“That is—“ She snorted and shook her head as a smirk twitched at the corners of her mouth. Forging the queen’s signature was a crime punishable by a spans imprisonment, yet she was so trusted she was allowed to do it whenever she so pleased. It was all rather exciting. “You make a salient point.”

“I always do.” Lyrei smirked at her, the fire in her burnt as fiercely as it did when they first met. “You’re not nearly as sneaky as you think you are.”

She huffed. “That is because I’ve taught you all of my tricks. I doubt anyone else would know it was I who requested the library be stocked with less of those disgusting romance novels in favour of more informative books — but in my defence, my mind is my weapon... and a mind like mines desperately needs quality books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.”

The girl spoke up. When she did, there was such a tender quality to her voice that Xenia couldn’t help smile at her. “Or that it was you who refused Lord Ubel’s request to make his birthday a national holiday to be celebrated every span, and instead made it a national holiday for the House Of Summer.”

She snorted. “You heard about that one, did you?”

“It was rather difficult not to laugh at the temper tantrum that unfolded when ‘my’ decision was brought up during this morning’s military inspection,” Lyrei laughed as she took a bite of potatoes. “I was as deeply amused as the soldiers of my Summer regiments to hear of the depths of my spite, mind you, but it was nonetheless a very entertaining conversation. I politely, but thoroughly, gagged at one point and Iris might’ve almost bitten his nose off and scared him half to death when he had the audacity to raise his voice at me. What a productive day it was.”

They both started giggling like a pair of teenagers. This happened far too often when Lyrei was especially busy and Xenia slipped into the role of personal equerry, when she was trusted to filter through the busy work that came with keeping the aristocracy happy whilst the queen focused on the larger issues at hand. Neither of them had the time or the patience to deal with spoiled blue bloods thinking they were important enough to have the day of their birth turned into a spectacle — which happened at least once a week — and their responses to such requests always made the common people laugh when palace gossip reached them.

“Perhaps I should’ve informed you sooner,” she smirked. “But in my defence, you are a very busy woman these days and the arrogant old fool deserved it. Did I tell you what his letter said?”

“Frost. There was a letter?”

She nodded. “Something along the lines of why you should rule more like a dictator than a sovereign. Apparently if he has learned anything from his past and his present, it’s the power of fear. You can give your subjects all the generosity in the world, and still they will demand more. But those who are afraid don’t fight back.” She scoffed. “The man is bonkers.”

“Mad as a hatter, I’d say.” Lyrei sighed and looked down at Iris nestled in her arms and ducked her head down to press a kiss between his tiny antlers. “He has informed me time and again that he thinks people like me too much. Reminded me that a cruel queen does not mean an unsuccessful one. He wants me to change from a glittering gem into a clouded stone, and my empire to become one to rule all others. He doesn’t seem to understand that a future like that would be nothing more than a darkness that stretched from sun, to sea, to sky. I have shown my people that I can be terrifying when the situation calls for a firm hand, yet generous and also kind, I have made them love me just enough for things to run smoothly and I feel like I have earned their respect... yet he will not leave me be.”

“What an imbecile. Men see only what they wish and are far too quick to believe the madness of a woman who does not cater to their every whim. People like him can seemingly forgive anything except being proven wrong. He wants to live in a house built on delusion, would rather believe in a million lies than face one truth— so be it. Let him continue to make a fool of himself.”

“He talks all the time about how history cannot repeat itself without understanding that the evils and abuses that seem new are the same old things that have been happening for centuries with different labels.” She sighed. “I happen to believe there is nothing wrong with the progress we’re making, with the evolution of our society, with developments with foreign alliances we are making, but I am being extremely cautious. The older nobles are so set in their ways they don’t want to understand that progress only becomes bad when fear is allowed to cloud judgement and the natural order of a community is destroyed. People fear what they can't understand and harm what they fear... and I’m not going to allow that to happen. I must be strong, as power resides only where men believe it resides. No more and no less.”

“What a queen you have become,” she murmured, awestruck in her adoration. She reached out and rested a supportive hand on her thigh. Duty. Honour. How inspiring it was to see her writing her name across the book of history. “The day will come when we strike him down. Mark my words. We will haunt his nightmares for that sort of thinking. We will show the old nobles who waged war in the council chamber for decades, never realising that they were fighting for the same cause, how foolish they were for sacking cities and plundering kingdoms, show them that they did not rule them.”

“The man is very fond of spiked heads, especially those of people who have annoyed him in some fashion. But I don’t think he realises a face as noble as his, well, no doubt he would be suited to decorating the city walls above the Winter Quarter.”

Xenia snorted at her morbid sense of humour. “I think he would have looked very striking up there, indeed. Should I swing the axe or would you like the honour and the chance to put that fancy suit of armour to the test?”

Lyrei threw her head back and laughed, comforted by Xenia’s words. She had become a strong queen in her own right in a very short time but there were occasions that she still relied on Xenia’s wisdom to give her strength. They worked far too well together for their own good sometimes, Xenia thought. Both of them wanting to rebel against the world the old council had created, and both of them quietly rebelling from inside the system. That was much more powerful than rebelling outside the system — together, they were shaking Lysende to its very core.

The old council had, at first, thought that Lyrei would not hit back — that she’d just lower her eyes and hide like the perfect little puppet. And sometimes, to protect herself, to make it go away, she wanted to. But most of the time, the girl found herself standing in exactly the right position, wielding exactly the right weapons to hit back. So she hit. She hit fast and hard and furious. She hit with nothing but the language whispered between issue after issue, the language that could bring people to their knees just as easily as it could build them up.

The first time Xenia ever saw Lyrei, it had been a stormy-wracked night that changed her life and, indeed, the world. As they worked, she recalled looking down from the window of her carriage to see a girl with copper-bright hair, conjuring an illusion of warmth in The Wilds such that she had never seen. She remembered the day she first took her to taste the Red Queen, when hope was alive and she was still much too innocent to understand her destiny, and the way she had looked up at her with her uncertain, curious gaze. She remembered her poisoning, and the prayers she had whispered to her that night as she nursed her back to health. How long ago that had been. How oblivious she’d been, then, to the force of nature she’d become.

She’d known for a while that this wasn't just a fling, and it wasn't something just working out of her system. She could function without her but had come to realise that she did not like being away from her. It felt like she took her home with her wherever she went. Sex would have been the fastest route to the deeper possession that she’d needed for a long time, but she and Lyrei hadn’t yet indulged in anything beyond a kiss — and she somehow felt like she had everything she needed. She was falling deeply in love with her, and falling too fast and hard to easily find any footing.

Alone, her energy had yearned for power and ambition, all too happy to let her grief take her into the darkness. But with Lyrei... she was able to smile, even to laugh when time were hectic. 

Once the papers had been worked through and the animals had wandered off, the spy pulled the queen onto her lap and wrapped her arms around her smaller frame tightly. For the longest time they didn’t say anything, but the silence was a comforting one, and Xenia simply thought about the million pieces of them scattered through her memory. The moments tiny and insignificant to everyone else in the world except for her.

“You're brilliant," she whispered. “But there are times I can’t help but think you're a fool to stay with someone like me."

She closed her eyes at the touch of the queen’s hand on her cheek. “Then we are both fools.”

“My queen,” she teased, breathless and her voice so fragile a butterfly would not have heard her. A note of amusement crept into her words. “It's strange being here with you. Sometimes it feels like we're the same person born into two different worlds.”

“Are you happy?,” Lyrei whispered. “Truly happy?”

“I have everything I could ever want here, Lyzzie,” she finally said. “You’ve handed me what feels like the world’s riches, a palace, a life of luxury.” She drew closer to her. “I get to be at your side. I am happier than I have been in a long time. What more do I need?”

Lyrei tilted her face and closed the distance between them. She tasted the wine she’d paired with her dinner on her lips. She kissed her gently at first and then, as if she was reaching for something more, kissed her harder. Her lips were warm and so soft — her hair brushing lightly against her face. 

It took Xenia a long moment to realise she was kissing her just as hungrily. She could feel the knife she’d given her for protection at her waist against her own skin, and she trembled. It was too warm here by the fire, there was too much heat on her face... but she didn’t care. Lyrei was was the flint lighting sparks in her darkness, illuminating a history that she could just barely see.

She was happy. Truly happy. No longer balancing the wish to be lost with the need to be found. How strange it was, the way the broken pieces of a shattered soul could knit together to find a way to make a new whole.

~ fin.


End file.
